


The Never Ending Shore

by sadpotato



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternative Universe - Fantasy, Mermaids, Other, Possible Mpreg, Sirens, Swearing, Weecest, Wincest - Freeform, Work on progress, possibly not even weecest but hey, siren!Sam, unisex!Sam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-20 05:44:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadpotato/pseuds/sadpotato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s what he sees when he opens his eyes once again that nearly makes him fall all over again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Above the surface

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlphaMishka1508](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaMishka1508/gifts).



> This is exactly the result of an idea I've been planning for some time now with a friend. Million thanks to AlphaMishka1508 for helping me out with some things. I don't guarantee I will be fast updating but there will be new chapters every once in a while. The whole work will be only from Dean's POV, however if I am motivated with success I will do a Tumblr blog dedicated to it, will answer unanswered questions about the story as it goes and will very possibly explains Sam's own POV. Until then, if any questions my current Tumblr is Bitshet.

Dean enjoys fishing, he really does, and it’s a lot more enjoyable when you’re with no-one around you. It depends where but he likes it better at the beach, there are the echoes of the waves that relax him and the nice breeze that blows and makes leafs rustle, branches creak and the water touching his bare feet splash. There’s always the sun too, the bright hot rays warming his skin nicely even though he had returned home to realize there are sunburns all around where his clothes won’t let the light reach, and they hurt most of the time. But those are the little things that he enjoys of fishing at the beach; the air here is fresh, taking with it the faint smell of salt when it penetrates your nostrils, the water is quiet where he’s sitting close by and sometimes if he listens more closely he can hear the fish splash the water somewhere close to him.

He can’t lie about the fact that there had been times where he had fallen asleep with the fishing rod in his hands. It’s when the breezes cool and the waves fall more loudly against each other that wake him up to see it’s already too late to be here. Perhaps it had been because he chooses the farthest distance from the people all over the coasts; Dean prefers that space just at the end with the small cliff raising the ground. Most of the time there is no one at the shores and he likes to think he likes it that way. It’s more relaxing and nice than being around people and children screaming and running past him when he could be here with his toes curling underwater, eyes half lidded and his hair a mess. 

No one to judge him or disturb him, that’s what Dean looks for. Not all the time he’s actually fishing, he can let the fishes be and just sit there with the rod in his hand for the effect of it. People may see that stupid and pointless but no one needs to tell him what to do or how to feel like, he can do whatever the hell he wants as long as it is extremely necessary that he stops doing whatever crosses his head. It’s not that hard, he’s not an idiot. 

Dean enjoys how the sand feels below his feet, although he hates when it sticks to his skin when he’s wet. He likes the view of the sun hiding behind the ocean as the sky gets darker and darker, and when he was a kid he used to believe he could hear water boiling and hissing when the sun would meet with the horizon. It’s nice and beautiful when he can see the reflection of the moon on the water, Dean likes to see the contrast of the dark sky and the shining water when they meet just like right now the sky it’s turning to that mix of a soft orange and the clear blue of the day.

He should leave now, besides he lives just across the next street right in front of the beach and he needs to see if his roommate has already moved away or if he’s poking around still like he tends to do. Dean has been doing nothing but playing hide and seek with the fish and he’s already bored at it seems, tired too just like the muscles of his ass cheeks hurt. The shore is awfully quiet today; maybe everything living that had been there before just left? Who knows, they probably thought Dean was more annoying than seagulls and decided to move just like his roommate, though that was for a much different reason and purpose.

Dean sighs and stands up with a groan, his muscles stretching and flexing finally. He curls back the string of his fishing rod before he’s stepping away from the water and letting his feet touch the rock surrounding it. He would laugh at himself for bringing nothing more than a fishing rod and the small glass full of dead worms that Chuck finds extremely disgusting. He doesn’t even have shoes to begin with so walking back home is going to be one fun experience now that he can hardly see much of his surroundings. 

He takes what he brought and steps over the dry rocks that hopefully won’t make him fall over, that would be extremely painful. The shore has these huge corals that peak above the water just ahead next to the sand, it keeps the waves from splashing in but when they find their ways small pools form around, letting other animals live around there. Sometimes he’s annoyed with the crabs that hide between the rocks, there had been already times when he had shoved his hand between there to see what he can find and one of those fuckers attempted to rip his fingers off. For this Dean prefers areas where the space is bigger and there is more variety, it’s rather scary to know a space that is too closed can cost you your damn fingers.

It won’t take him that long before he finally gets over to the sand of the coast, he just needs to skip a few rocks here and there and avoid all the sharp places as much as possible. He stops midway though, eyes squinting with curiosity at something that appears to be peaking over the corals. It’s something sharp edged and red, it makes him think it must be the head of a fish or perhaps just the trash people leave behind, but the more he steps closer carefully to see what it is the more it loses shape in his head. Dean has no idea what it is however he is determined to find out if it may be something important, always is. 

Dean climbs a few rocks cautiously and looks over again, he’s about eight feet away from this thing now and he can see more clearly what it is. It looks like a fin, the fish must be big according to the length of it and he doesn’t believe to know of a fish that is bright red and is this large. There’s something missing about the color, it seems to be too dark on the edges to really be normal, from what Dean can tell the fish must be dead by now. It’s not moving and the fin seems pretty motionless over the corals, dry like it had been there for a long time.

When he gets there he can peek over the fin but the rest of the fish it’s underwater and barely visible. All he can see it’s that the fish was rather long and its tail was thin around its base and then it started stretching to become fatter and bigger like the tail of a dolphin. The fin is red but the rest turns to a nice gold color, the scales are painted with some sort of reddish brown at the edges and some are completely gold. It’s very distracting, Dean notices, it’s a really beautiful mix of colors and he finds himself staring with amazement before he comes back to reality and realizes he still hasn’t seen the fish completely.

Dean frowns at it for a couple of minutes at then crouches over to grip at the base just above the fin to pull, groaning when he realizes this thing was freaking heavy. He pulls again more strongly and the weight of the fish slides a bit over the corals, Dean could just go there and step over them to hover over the limp fish and raise its middle body from there but then that would be rather dangerous and he still doesn’t have any idea what it even was in the first place. However, he does get a little closer to surround the tail with his arms and pull at it with much more force and thankfully this time most of the fish is out of the water by now but the problem is that it just keeps getting bigger. 

What was a fin of nineteen inches long with a base about three inches was now as big and long as the waist of a human being would be. He has no idea what the hell he had found but it is rather terrifying that he’s here by himself pulling god knows what out of the water, he should had called someone else instead. Dean takes a deep breath and prays for a while that whatever he had in his arms in front of him doesn’t come back to life to mess him up, then he pulls a little more to see two more fins attached to both sides of the tail and with a little curse out of his lips he continues to pull with more force until he’s too carried away to notice he’s stepping closer to a rock that the moment he steps on it he slips and falls on his back.

When he was falling he gripped for the tail in his arms for dear life before his back collided with a sharp rock behind him and he lets out a long groan that comes out of his mouth instinctively without thinking it twice. He didn’t hit his head with anything but his clothes are wet now and he’s inside of another small pool over the flat rocks, the tail is heavy over his chest and it makes Dean notice that he has pulled the fish a lot more out of the water when he fell and held it close, though he can’t see the rest while he’s lying on his back suffering some damn intense pain that’s going make him feel completely old the moment he tries to stand up. 

He takes a deep breath and then tries to pull the tail off him until it lands next to him with a loud splash. Dean can feel the sting of pain across his back and he wonders if he’s bleeding or suffered a lot more damage than just a fall, it doesn’t really stop him from trying to stand up and when he does with a lot of difficulty he puts his hands on his hips and stretches his back with his eyes closed and a hiss.

It’s what he sees when he opens his eyes once again that nearly makes him fall all over again.

This was no damn fish’s tail, what the hell was he even looking at? Dean thought it was freaky that he had found a fish with a tail that would easily be his height; he couldn’t begin to explain how finding out that the other half was the upper body of a human being was way more over the top. What he could tell was clearly human seems to be like the upper body of a young teenage girl, the gold scales start departing when it joins the nicely tan skin and even with that there are a few scales that continue to leave marks across the ‘v’ shape below the small belly button. Small breasts follow and he can see that there are scales making a pattern just below the swollen skin too, arms that have a closed fin attached to its forearms and then red and gold gills at the sides of its neck.  
“Holy shit,” Dean swears under his breath and his green eyes are wide open as big as they can be. This is so far the most shocking thing he had seen in his life, he’s not really sure how to react right now, not with his heart beating fast in his chest. Seriously, he found a mermaid? Here? Dean had lived here ever since he was a kid, never heard of anyone sighting a mermaid and much less had he been able to see one before in a place like this. Why here and now?

It was starting to unnerve him, the longer he stared he felt nauseous even, could see himself passing out. Dean had no idea what he was supposed to do now, there were no more people at the beach or across the coast but he was supposed to cross the street following by to get to the summer house where he was one hundred percent Chuck was still at. Jesus Christ, as freaked out as he was right now he couldn’t just leave this here. He found it, may as well get credit for it. The problem was how he could possibly get over to his house with no one noticing he had a freaking handful of mermaid.

Dean tilted his head with furrowed eyebrows as he looked over the girl—mermaid thing. He couldn’t yet see its face, her head was still inside the water and Dean had to be honest, he preferred not to see her face because he really had to keep it real, she was a sea creature, right? It must be dragging around a really ugly face and a body to distract. Maybe she had fangs and would beat the crap out of him if he attempted to get her out of here, would wake up halfway and eat off his face just like that for even touching her. Dean should really call someone first to help him here. But no, he likes to be stubborn about these kinds of things, he was going to see the mermaid’s face right now and if he died trying at least he hoped she was smoking hot before he did.

With no more thoughts Dean kicked her tail gingerly to see if she would wake up, and when her body remained motionless he bit his bottom lip sheepishly and leaned down to pull at her tail so he could see her face. Her head bobbed out of the water and turned to the side when it was right over the coral, there was a mass of chestnut locks around her head that was sticking to her forehead and cheeks but Dean is staring hard and not comprehending the situation. The mermaid looked like a boy from the neck down—and well, the waist down she was all fish, but her face resembled a boy completely. Her hair was short like a teenage boy would have it and he couldn’t tell any more than that since it was completely wet but the face, all boy.

He’s having trouble here trying to react properly, how though? Was there even a way? He had to go through this and fast, it was already too dark and it would take about twenty minutes for the night to take over. Dean just stared at her with bewilderment then eventually just shook his head and ran his hands down his face, frowning at the awful fish scent they had caught and pulled them away from his face to pull at the tail again. This time however he placed his hands carefully behind her—he… its back to lift it up against his shoulder, for a brief moment noticing the fin right there all across its pine to the middle back. Dean took a few breaths more before he takes the effort to place its upper body above his shoulder and hold its waist so when he stands up he at least has some support, the problem was that when he does its body was so heavy he felt he would surely fall if he didn’t make more pressure on his legs.

It was the tail that was annoyingly heavy; Dean pushes the mermaid’s weight back so its hanging completely from his shoulder and it’s a lot easier to walk without the fin of the tail knocking his feet constantly. He’s stepping out of the rocks finally but when his feet touch the sand that he even bothers to look down he stops and groans and just rolls his eyes because this is too much already. Really? He expected the tail to be just the same over the mermaid’s back but no, he has an eyeful of butt right there on his face and he’s not really down to even think about it. It looks like a normal but there are scales surrounding it in a gentle way to then proceed to the rest of the tail, Dean finds himself staring before he just gets it all together and continues to walk across the coast.

Again, there is no one at the beach in this time of the day, and it takes him a great awful of time to get over to the street crossing his house so he can really look over and tell by himself if there is someone around. He’s hiding between a few bushes, breathlessly but thankfully still alive, which the weight on his shoulders he feels he’s about to collapse and give up completely the whole situation, just chooses to ignore it and sprints really fast across the street towards his house when he sees there is no one to see him.

Fuck, Chuck is still in the house. Dean can see his lame RV just in front of the beach house and for the sake of it Dean instead goes through the backyard and sees the sliding door there is not even closed; the idiot. He adjusts the weight of the mermaid on his shoulder and takes a deep breath to continue his task and steps over the small porch there to step inside, looking around himself carefully. He can hear Chuck poking about in his room which was supposed to be his old room by now, it would take Dean to cross the room where he was to get to the bathroom in time and store the mermaid in there, if only Chuck wouldn’t look behind himself things would be much easier. 

“Goddamn it.” Dean murmurs to himself, obviously careful that Chuck wouldn’t hear him. He pokes his head just a little bit this time, the moment he sees Chuck has his back to him Dean just looks over to the bathroom door and steps on his tip toes as fast as he can over there, damning his life for the last time as he opens the door finally and opens the curtain immediately to drop the mermaid on the bathtub louder than he really meant to. “Shit.” he swears once again, hoping he didn’t hurt the thing too bad for doing that, didn’t even check if it was breathing. Desperately enough he runs in the cold water so it would fill the tub, he puts a finger under the mermaid’s nose and is relieved to feel it is breathing just the slightest, which was also a little more scarier than before.

It’s just when he’s letting out a long sigh of relief and he’s turning around to exit the bathroom just in time to meet Chuck face to face and jump with surprise and a rather girly shriek. Chuck frowns up at him and steps back, tilting his head a little towards the bathroom. “Hey, you okay?”

Dean nods immediately, running his hand down his face but making the same mistake again and pulling it away with a crouched nose. “Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. Just…” he trails off, closing the door behind him and earning a raised eyebrow from his roommate. “I’m fine, y’know. Fishing and all.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Chuck laughs nervously, licking his lips and frowning again. Dean must smell terrible for him to say that but he really has no other excuse for his current state other than to say he had been fishing all day. He just watched as Chuck looks down at him, making Dean remember how all this time he had been soaking wet ever since he fell. There is a wet trail across the living room that goes to the living room and ends at the porch, his roommate is staring at it like he’s trying to figure out something but Dean doesn’t even have to ask what he’s about to say to know what’s crossing his head. “Did you just… come through the backyard?”

“I was… trying not to make a bigger mess.” Dean says immediately, literally the first excuse that comes in mind. Chuck furrows his eyebrows at that and looks back at the trail. “My clothes were all wet so I thought coming through the backyard would be better.” he keeps trying to explain, making things up as they come but he’s thankful they at least make sense.

Chuck looks back at Dean. “You could’ve just told me and I would had brought you a towel or something.” he says slowly.

Dean pauses there for a minute when he opens his mouth, squinting at his roommate—or rather old one. “I thought you would had left by now.” he says, this actually makes Chuck look up at him with wide eyes and it makes him feel bad for a moment. “Didn’t know you were going to still be around.”

Chuck scratches at his neck awkwardly and looks around himself, nodding uncomfortably. “I know, I uh… I needed help with a few things and I thought I could ask for your help- but you don’t need to, I was just about to leave.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Dean says with a small laugh and scratches at his head, Chuck stops babbling finally so this is finally the time for Dean to get out of the situation for once so he can deal with the bigger problem. He doesn’t even know why he brought that thing here, what was he supposed to do with it? Train it to catch him fish? “I’ll help you. I guess I’ll just clean all the mess later after you leave.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Chuck pouts his lips and furrows his eyebrows once again, this time he’s looking right at the closed bathroom door and when Dean thinks he’s about to ask if he can take a look inside Chuck instead turns around, heading towards his old room. “Just need help moving things, the boxes I mean.”

Dean nods and follows him hurriedly inside the room, seeing there was about six or five huge boxes to move and it would just take a few minutes to get them all to Chuck’s car. This was the first time he really thanked Chuck for not having too much stuff to take back to his place, if he even really had one. One day he just decided he was going to move out and he always seemed really nervous about it but Dean wasn’t going to ask questions, it wasn’t any of his business and he preferred to keep himself away from finding out something he wished he wouldn’t had heard.

Chuck is already taking one of the boxes and walking past him, he’s so small it looks like the weight of the box would crash him to death, no wonder he asked for help. Dean looks over to him and watches as Chuck spends a rather long time trying to open the front door with his hands busy but when he does Dean just sighs and looks over to the bathroom door with dismiss, turning around to help Chuck with the boxes. The one he takes is heavy but not nearly as heavy as a freaking mermaid; he can carry it towards the door to Chuck’s RV with no trouble at all, not having trouble with the fact that he was all wet and damp. 

He doesn’t bother to go inside the RV, just places the box in front of the door frame so Chuck would pick it up and accommodate it somewhere inside. Chuck comes around at some point and pushes the box across the floor with his feet instead of picking it up, Dean is amused for a few seconds but when he looks up he sees his old roommate looks back at him and sighs heavily. Here it comes. “Hey, I’m sorry about… you know.”

Dean’s face clears and he shakes his head, offering a small smile. “It’s okay, man. It wasn’t your fault, not like Bobby would have known.”

“No but, I should’ve known better. Why would someone even think about telling someone’s boss if they work or not?” Chuck runs a hand through his hair dejectedly, Dean can see he’s completely blaming himself on this and that he’s still beating himself for it but he just really doesn’t need this flick-chick moment right now, there’s a sea thing still in their bathroom. “Literally, he asked me what you’ve been doing and I told him completely the opposite of what a boss would want to hear.”

“But hey, you didn’t even know I was supposed to be doing work all these time so it’s fine. Seriously Chuck, I’ll get over it. It’s no big deal.” Dean waves a hand tiredly and watches as Chuck seems to buy it, then doesn’t. 

“You have to work extra now though.” Chuck mumbles, fidgeting even, the poor little soul. 

Dean sighs and shrugs, pouting his lips to the side in thought. “Okay, look,” he starts saying rubbing his hands together in front of him, looking up at Chuck. “I’m alright, not like I haven’t been given extra work before, the old man does that kind of crap all the time. Just forget ‘bout it, it goes on.” Dean tells him firmly, though Chuck is just silent as he stares at Dean with an apologetic look and it makes the taller men rolls his eyes and wave a hand. “I’ll just bring you your stuff.”

He walks away from the RV towards the front door again to walk in, he expects to find everything back in place and how it was when he walked outside but it just makes him realize he can’t spend a minute more letting things untaken care of. The bathroom door is open and there is a huge pool of water coming out of the small room across the floor, Dean runs towards it anxiously to see he left the water running all this time, but not only that, the mermaid is not there. “Son of a bitch.” he curses under his breath and goes to stop the water from running, turning around immediately to walk out of the bathroom and finally sees the much wetter trail across the living room towards the kitchen. 

Dean groans to himself, the first thing he does going to Chuck’s old room and picking another box to run towards he RV again and drop it right in front of it, going back to do the same thing with the rest of the boxes and ignoring the protests he hears of Chuck in the distance. When he returns with another box to walk outside he sees Chuck is standing there confused and the box he had taken here before already inside his car. “What’s wrong?” Chuck asks him but right when he asks Dean is already handing him the box and running back inside his house, seeing there was only two boxes left. 

When he’s returning Chuck is standing in the living room staring at the pool of water with his face screwed up in worry. “What happened?” he asks this time, so distracted he’s didn’t expect Dean to push the box into his hands again and he looks up at his friend, blue eyes wide. 

“Let the water run for too long.” Dean responds with a humorless laugh as he runs over to the same room and takes the box left in his arms, however this time he stares at it for a moment and peeks stands at the doorway to look over at the same confused Chuck that seems to be trying to make things out. “This your sister’s pool?” Dean asks hurriedly as he shows him the blue box he has in his arms, Chuck nods distractedly, frowning. “Do you use it?

Chuck shakes his head, eyebrows furrowed. “No, I mean, I don’t like to use it…”

“Can I borrow it?” Dean asks right after, making his best to look really needy for it and when Chuck seems to resist but nods anyway Deans sighs in relief and places the box on the floor with a loud thud. He smiles over to Chuck nervously and turns him around by the shoulders to lead his outside towards the door, Chuck mumbling questions to him that Dean decides to ignore. “I can take care of that, don’t you worry, just leave now.” Dean keeps pushing, patting Chuck’s back and helping him carry the box inside the RV. He’s not even relaxing until he’s certain Chuck’s on the driving seat with the motor already on, glancing worried at Dean but he just keeps brushing him off. Dean closes the door and waits for Chuck to leave, when the RV starts pulling off and leaving, Dean spends a while faking a smile and waving. Though when it was out of sight Dean’s sure he had never run faster in his dear life.

He hurries towards the kitchen as fast as he can, nearly stripping over himself in the process when he peeks over the counter nervously. Dean sees nothing actually; it makes his heart beat faster than it had been ten minutes ago and his chest feel tight and painful. Where the hell was it? He really hoped it didn’t grow a pair of legs and just left like that, what if it could though? Did fantasy mythical sea creature things that grew legs get revenge for being taken out of the water? Dean had to search in the web for that after.

Dean turns around just in time to hear some noises across the room this time, being able to see a tail flapping against the floor and the rest hidden behind a couch that was right in front of the still open front door. “No, no, no, no!” he shouts hysterically and sprints over there just the same, closing the door without even looking at the floor but when he does he sees the mermaid is obviously very alive and fully awakened and it had its hand reaching out for the door but when Dean closed it immediately the thing hisses up at him and recoils back aggressively.

What was really unnerving is that Dean doesn’t know how but it got so angry and surprised at the sight of Dean that all its shiny gold and reddish scales turned all to a very dark color, almost black. Its fins flared however they weren’t as intimidating at its eyes, all completely black and freaking terrifying. It was clearly ready to attack if Dean came any closer; its long tail kept twisting over the floor like the tail of a playful cat, curling back against the couch and hissing insistently. 

Dean is paralyzed in his spot, not sure what to do now that he’s sure getting closer to the mermaid will only cause it to become more aggressive. He spends about five minutes completely still staring down at the face of a really angry boy who would very certainly rip his skin off without thinking it twice, to a point where it’s hissing became a low tongue clicking at the back of its throat that was very threatening and made the hairs at the back of Dean’s neck spike up in fear. The mermaid stays like that until it notices Dean is not moving at all and it seems to calm down but there is a low rumbling coming from its throat that Dean identifies as a growl maybe, he’s not sure.

The kid, Dean may as well just call it a ‘he’ for now because he clearly can’t get over the boy face, his tail stops moving and twisting from one side to the other, fins still flared as he pulls himself closer to Dean across the floor and seems to attempt to catch Dean’s scent from the foot he’s damn right afraid to move. The mermaid looks back in surprise and question, fins still showing off although his scales came back to its much prettier and shiny color, the black of his eyes going away with just one blink of his eyes and Dean is surprised to see he has nice and hazel pupils surrounded by white that look up at him with curiosity.

Dean takes a deep inhale and begins to slowly move his foot away, the movement still alerting the boy and making back off and hiss at it, yet the color of his scales and eyes remained the same. With a lot of hesitation at first Dean bites his lower lip and even more slowly he pushes his foot back to the mermaid, causing the creature to glare up at him and hiss more highly again, this time raising its hand to slap at the foot defensively. Dean grimaces at that nonetheless it didn’t hurt as much as he expected it to, when he pushes his foot more insistently towards him the mermaid again slaps it and curls over towards the back of the couch in search of protection but it’s easy to see he can’t seem to find it here where he isn’t underwater. 

This is so far a somewhat amusing situation, realizing that whatever he brought from the beach was actually really harmless. Well, Dean still hasn’t thought about his teeth except Dean could easily block him in a way that the mermaid wouldn’t be allowed to use them against him, hopefully. What was he going to do after though? Dean should fill the pool first and drop him in after trying to catch him, no point in wrestling right now if he had no other moves.

Dean steps back cautiously, the creature in front of him clicking his tongue in a warning tone that was enough to tell Dean he shouldn’t make a closer move if he wanted to stay in one piece. He looks over to the box from the corner of his eye, wondering if it was big and tall enough to hold a fish of this size. He should actually get a new and bigger pool if he planned on keeping it, he did tell Chuck he was going to borrow it, surely his friend would want it back at some point. The mermaid didn’t look like one to be careful about being in a pool, much less a plastic one that he could easily knock over without even trying.

He finally stepped away, the creature in front of him curling his tail around himself and hugging his fin close to his chest as if trying to make a shell of protection. Dean doesn’t try to do anything about it of course, its harmless, what kind of douchebag would want to hurt a young mermaid trying to defend itself?

Dean walked away quickly towards the blue box in the distance, from the corner of his eyes seeing the mermaid flinched and pressed himself against the door. How long was it going to take him to make the pool and fill it with water? Hopefully not long. He really expected him to be able to breathe without water for much longer if he wanted to survive here with Dean, not that it was any of him fault, Dean was the one doing what wasn’t right. He seemed to be pretty alright outside the water though, so far dragging himself over the floor with no trouble carrying such a heavy tail.

With no further do Dean opened the box and started to take out what it contained, what were just the plastic mess that was inside and some instructions that weren’t really needed at all. The pool was big enough to fill a room but not too tall, from what he could see just about three feet tall, what was necessary to hold a person obviously. Someday in the future perhaps someone will invent plastic pools for mermaids, probably him but who knew, he didn’t have it guaranteed that he was going to stay with this creature forever.

It actually didn’t take him that long, or at least it didn’t feel like that for him. He had to fill the pool with air first to it would stay up an in place. The mermaid remained on his spot behind the couch like it was a place to hide from Dean, sometimes poking his head out and watching him get the plastic pool ready. Dean supposed the boy knew what he was trying to do, his only reason being that when he started to fill the pool with water he could hear sniffing in the distance, the creature digging his nail into the couch to support his weight as he raised himself further from the floor on his tail. His eyes were wide as he watched the water fill the pool, Dean stared at him in wonder thinking it may be thirsty for all he knew but the floor remained just as wet from the bathtub, the mermaid didn’t appear to be interested in that.

Could he breathe fresh water? Perhaps he didn’t. Dean wasn’t stupid, he knew there were fishes that are meant to live in salt water only, what if mermaids were the same? He wasn’t going to make any other option now, the pool was already filled and he didn’t feel like walking to the beach and coming back repeatedly just to fill the pool of salt water instead. He expected the mermaid to die if he waited too long for water; it was technically a fish after all. Dean was only going to be able to see if he resisted fresh water the next day, like he also expected to find him still in the pool by the time is day. 

Dean sighs heavily and lets the hose fall on the floor when the pool is completely filled, already really tired and sure that it must be really late now since he found the mermaid at the shore. He turned around to look at the couch, seeing the boy was still watching him intently but he looked tired and worn out, eyes half lidded and his arms under his chin above the sofa. However, when Dean makes a move to get closer his eyes open wider and his fins flare but he doesn’t seem dangerous or ready to attack, just alerted. Dean takes slow steps forward, hoping it wouldn’t try to bite his arm off in the process since he really wanted to get him inside the blue pool by now.

The mermaid lowered his head behind the couch and stared right back at Dean with wondrous hazel eyes, doing some sort of rumbling bubbling noise that reminded him of guinea pig. Dean wasn’t sure of what it meant but whatever it was maybe it was curiosity; there was something about his eyes that talked for him. The tiny bubble of wonder surged inside of him, perchance the mermaid could talk, that was something he would have to figure out later when he actually had the time to seat down peacefully with him and attempt to communicate. 

Dean was behind the couch with the creature now, looking down at him directly. The boy was not looking away or moving either, wide eyes trailing up to meet green ones carefully. Dean circled him and watched as he moved in the same pace Dean was taking, hands flat on the floor while he dragged himself over it on his stomach and tried to avoid being close to him as much as possible. “We have to do this the hard way, buddy.” Dean finally tells the mermaid, for the first time ever talking to him but it doesn’t seem to be doing any effect, except for the boy raising his head in curiosity as if trying to pick up the sounds. “You ain’t going anywhere but that pool.”

The mermaid blinks up at him and it makes Dean frown, but he also wasn’t ready for when he stepped closer and all of the sudden the tail that had been motionless struck his legs and made him fall on his back once again, earning a loud groan out of him. He looked to his side in hopes of seeing the kid still there but all he can see is the end of his tail disappearing in front of the couch like a snake, sliding easily and with no trouble. Dean pressed his eyes together with a huff of breath and held the back of his head carefully, rolling to his side and staying like that for a while longer while he waited for the sharp pain to go away.

When he thought the pain was away enough to let him focus, Dean stood up and looked towards the pool confused, just in time to see the mermaid grip at the edges and pull himself up to let himself fall in it, some water splashing out of it but it wasn’t enough to make another mess. Dean raised his eyebrows in surprise and stepped closer with a hand still rubbing at the back of his head, seeing how the pool was moving with small waves. He wondered, maybe the mermaid understood his words which was amazing in a way. He was smart after all then? And obedient too, could tell what was better for him or not.

The mermaid poked half of his head out of the water just when Dean was ready to leave, staring up at him and blinking the drops of water off his eyelashes. Dean scoffed and bit at his bottom lip, crossing his arms over his chest while he watched tiny bubbles appear from the water in front of the mermaid’s nose. “So you’re a hybrid then?” Again, the creature says nothing to that but swims closer to the edge of the pool, hands coming from below the surface and holding himself from them. Dean tilts his head. “I really hope you like it there, can’t get any better until Bobby pays me.”

Dean hears a snort from the mermaid, wonder what it means, but before he can say anything else the boy is already underwater again and not coming out, letting Dean stare at the unmoving water for a while longer as if expecting him to come out any time soon. When he didn’t, Dean sighs and scratches at his head. “Well, that’s convenient.”


	2. Krabbe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Then again, he could just let the kid live and free him back to the sea. It was just… there was something about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that the chapter didn't come out as long as I had wanted it to. I was in sort of a hurry and really wanted to have it out before doing some other things I'm busy with. I did mention before my updates wont be that often but I do try in having them done and keep anyone from waiting too long. But here is another piece, enjoy!

Also dropping in this quickly, I even forgot I did this before I started to write. I was poking around building some ideas and making some sketches to have everything clarified before I did anything. Here is the sketch I ended up making explaning Sam completely, there is a second part to this actually but it is not done yet, however I may not really post it at all. There may be a chance that various things there don't make sense, I did my research indeed, just not really an expert on fish but I am trying to learn for the greater good haha.

 

* * *

 

 

Dean woke up exhausted, head pounding and eyes stinging, the muscles of his back sore and aching when he rolls over the couch. Last night he spent a few hours cleaning the mess that had been caused for being awfully curious about everything. Everything was in place again, back to the way it was before he thought it was going to be a good idea to bring a sea creature into his house, which for the record was supposed to be a myth. He checked his back; it was indeed bleeding slightly, a few scratches here and there that itched on his skin when he put on a new shirt. Dean was aware that he must have big purple bruises across the freckles of his back, dark and painful, enough to tell him they were going to last for a few days.

There may be a chance that all of that had been a dream, he did drink a few beers before going to the shore yesterday, he must had been drunk and didn’t realize his current state believing he found a mermaid across the corals. It was something he wasn’t too sure if he wanted to believe or not. What were the perks of having a mermaid? Dean wondered, could he win money in exchange of giving it to someone else, like scientists? But these days he was more concerned of what they would do to the mermaid if he was to hand over what he had found, surely hurt the harmless buddy.

He was sure it must be like in hospitals, Dean knew the feeling of being poked around, he couldn’t imagine how upsetting must it be to be experimented for the rest of your life. Though, what was he going to do with a sea creature? Dean had no plans, no thoughts about it; he brought the mermaid here for no apparent reason. Maybe it was pity. He did found him limp and still at the shore, thought he was dead. You would think the boy was badly injured and ready to die but that was the surprise Dean got, Merboy attempted to attack him and knocked him off his feet once in his own house as soon as he woke up.

For that reason he had spent the whole night sleeping on the couch, keeping watch over the pool and settling down his paranoia. He couldn’t bear the thought of the mermaid coming out of there and messing more of his stuff, not to mention going out to the streets or dying out there dry and thirsty.

Dean groaned and rubbed at his temples, eyes still closed. He heard nothing beside his breathing and shuffling of his clothes, the waves of the beach outside but nothing else. He furrowed his eyebrows and forced one eye open, his sight slightly blurry at first as he adjusted to the sunny light coming out of the still open sliding door. It didn’t appear to really be a dream, the blue pool in the middle of the living room was still there, thankfully intact and still. The whole room was as clean as Dean left it last night; there was a small puddle of water surrounding the underside of the plastic pool, and that was about it. Whatever the mermaid was doing he clearly didn’t have any interest in coming out and Dean was thankful for that, though he did feel a little bad and perhaps suspicious by this.

He tried to sit on the couch slowly, stilling for a second when he felt his muscles tense and keep him from making any movement. Dean frowns and continues so, gritting his teeth together while he stretches his arms and rubs as his neck in hopes of soothing the pain away. He looks forward, questioning the reason why the pool seems like there was no one inside at all. The mermaid couldn’t have left that quietly, with the weight of such a heavy tail Dean doesn’t believe he had gone right past that sliding door as Dean slept.

It takes him about a minute to keep stretching his muscles at all the right places before he stands up with a little difficulty but manages to keep his balance on his feet. Dean feels a little light headed and dizzy, when he walks forward even getting that slight wave of sickness that nearly makes him trip over. He’s not sure why but today it seems different somehow, skipping the fact that he had a mythical creature in his house, it was just not as usual to get this kind of feeling like he’s got a hangover. Anyway, Dean could pull it together, he always did. It was possible that the mermaid was poisonous or something of that sort, he’ll be damned but perhaps whoever found him was going to remember him as the guy who died with a mermaid inside a pool beside him.

Dean walks towards the plastic pool tiredly, rubbing as his face and trying to get away the tiredness of his eyes. He looks over the water carefully, he can see the boy clearly there under the water, tail curled around himself with his fins hidden. Dean can’t see his face because it’s buried between his arms right above where the rest of his golden tail rests, though he’s still sure the mermaid must be asleep, or maybe dead. He did know this was fresh water; perhaps he killed him for being too lazy and not wanting to fill it with salt water instead. Dean couldn’t tell if the kid was breathing or not, he was too still below the water and his tail was long enough to cover his ribs and middle body.

For a while longer he stared with wary eyes and yawned quietly before going silent again, too tired to really pay too much attention to the fact that he still had a freaking mermaid in front of him, at this point he should be doing research or asking for help. Dean let his arms fall at his sides and raised his left foot to kick at the side of the pool gently, peeking over the edge. “Hey tadpole, wake up.” he says as he looks down at the figure lying motionlessly at the bottom, voice hoarse with sleep. The mermaid didn’t move though, it stayed as immobile as it was five seconds ago. Again, Dean kicks at the side of the pool harder, raising his voice louder. “I said wake up, c’mon.”

It’s the same thing again; he doesn’t see any movement coming front the creature and doesn’t hear any of that weird tongue clicking either. Well, he did kill him then. There was no other reason to why he wasn’t waking up to Dean’s demands. What was Dean going to do if the mermaid was indeed dead? Maybe he could give it out for money now that it wasn’t alive to suffer any experiments.

Dean stands there in the middle of the living room for a while, slowly the corner of his lips curling downwards the more he thought about the situation. This did make him sort of depressed, for once he had found something exciting in his life, and he easily fucked it up for not giving a mermaid salt water. Not only that, Dean took away a life, human or not it clearly didn’t not the serve that when in the first place this was all on Dean, this creature shouldn’t be here and much less be forced to stay if he was supposed to be out there doing his mermaid thing—taking care of fishes or something.

His shoulders drop and he looks away, pursing his lips together with a heavy sigh. Dean needed to start making new plans and continue on with his life to then either show off he had a dead sea creature at his house or throw it way back in the sea for someone else to find. Those were his only two options now unless he wanted to keep it, which wasn’t really a very evaluable choice now. Dean feels a tiny spark of disappointment surging inside of him, it’s probably bigger than he thinks but it’s his job to hide it and tell otherwise.

However, he hears a soft thud coming from inside the pool, Dean can see the edges moving slightly with the movement of the water and his heart leaps suddenly at the realization. Hope rushes through him as soon as he heard a louder thud that makes the water nearly splash out from the edges, signaling that there are a lot of possibilities that the mermaid was just as dandy and alive as he was yesterday. Dean can see bubbles forming over the water, as if someone was letting out air from underneath, like the ones the kid made last night.

Dean steps closer and tentatively, keeping himself a safe distance away from the pool in case the mermaid was up to attack him today too.  He was aching enough already, Dean didn’t feel like suffering worse if the case ever came to it. Though the mermaid did seem harmless, apart from all the hissing and slapping, he had no sharp teeth that Dean could see, no claws or fish spines, nothing to hurt Dean. He had soft fins like that of a Goldfish’s, though they were more reddish at the edges like the fin at the end of his tail.

The pool is shifting again inside and at this point Dean is wondering what was really happening inside there. He didn’t have much of a clear view, from his point of view he could hardly see the blurry shape of something gold moving inside which was clearly the mermaid’s tail. Dean bites the inside of his cheeks and forces himself to get closer and place his hands on the wet edge of the pool to take a look inside, ignoring the pleads going on in his head that he should step back immediately.

He can see more clearly now, the mermaid is awake and rolling about at the bottom of the pool like he was trying to accommodate himself. He seems to be trying to stretch, tail a little too long and slapping the blue plastic walls around him. Dean feels bad for giving him such a small space but it was either that or the tub that didn’t have more space than the pool could give. The mermaid has his back to Dean, he curls his tails once again and lets out several bubbles from his nose as his slender hands grip at the base of his tail and pulls. Dean raises an eyebrow confused, trying to figure out what the creature is doing, bending down a little over his tail and letting Dean see the crack of his butt peek a little from the rest of the tail surrounding him.

Dean wants to see what the hell he’s doing really badly; to him it looks like the mermaid is attempting to check something of his body but was having a hard time adjusting in the small space he is in. Dean tilts his head and leans over the water to see if he could catch anything else, something that immediately became a really bad idea. The mermaid notices him the first instant Dean’s shadow makes a silhouette over him, turning his head sharply with wide eyes and looking up at Dean immediately when he sees the taller form hovering over the edge of the pool. He seems to let out a shriek that gets muffled by the water surrounding him, bubbles coming out of his mouth as he presses his back against the side of the pool and flares his fins, glaring at the human.

It wasn’t really an unexpected turn of events, Dean knew this was going to happen, careful or not. “Calm down, I’m not going to do anything to you.” Dean says in an offensive tone, after saying that asking to himself if the mermaid could even understand him at all but it doesn’t look like he did. He was still trying to curl away from Dean the best he could, lips moving slightly letting Dean know he must be emitting some sort of noise that Dean couldn’t hear while he was out of the water. It’s sort of annoying, there must be some way he could gain the creature’s trust without having to corner him like this.

Dean watched him for a while longer, the boy underwater doing the same completely still and cautious. He raises a hand and tries his best to make an understandable motion that tells the mermaid to poke his head out of the water. The kid stares at his hand as his eyes shift from Dean’s face to this rather idiotic signs, his face getting an inch closer with curiosity and his lips slightly parted in concentration. It finally seemed like he understood what Dean was trying to tell him, however he didn’t take it all well. The mermaid frowns up at him and presses his back against the plastic wall behind him with a shake of his head, before Dean has any time to react his tail is coming out of the water to splash Dean until his face was wet and the front of his shirt was damp.

Dean steps back immediately and groans while a hand reached up to wipe the water off his face, completely annoyed and angry to get this sort of reaction. Dean glares towards the pool, it took no effect since the mermaid remained under the water hiding away from Dean but it was the best he could do to keep himself from throwing him back into the sea. He sighs with frustration and walks towards the bathroom to get a towel so he could dry off his face and neck, returning back to the living room with his nerves already calmed.

This time the mermaid is actually staring at Dean with his head poking out of the water close to the edge of the pool. All Dean can see is his hair sticking to his wet forehead and his eyes wide blinking at him, hands gripping at the wide of the pool gently. Dean stops walking in front of the door of the bathroom and crosses his arms with a sigh, biting the inside of his cheeks. “Well, good morning, Ariel.” he says with sarcasm, immediately rolling his eyes to himself after remembering the mermaid probably had no idea what sarcasm even was so he tries to somehow hide it with an irritated smile. “You doin’ good?”

Merboy—Dean decides to call him that from now on until he finds a proper name, he blinks again at Dean and raises his head higher to rest his chin over the plastic edge, sniffing the air briefly like he was trying to identify something. It must be Dean’s scent; he was clearly raising his nose over the air and looking directly at Dean, face starting to show confusion. Dean wets his lips as he pulls a small smirk, musing about something. “I smell good, don’t I?”

Ariel doesn’t collaborate with the conversation as always, just stares at him and makes some sort of chirping noise that Dean flinches when he hears. It’s sort of a noise too sharp for human ears, it doesn’t hurt but it does make Dean wince and scowl. It seems that the mermaid notices and then does it again, this time softer and gentle, apparently trying to say something. Dean furrows his eyebrows and then continues to dry his shirt and the rest of his clothes, listening careful to the curious sounds Merboy was making. “What you on about smelling me?” he asks with a snort, hearing another chirp from the creature in front of him. “Are you hungry? Is that it?”

He nearly even forgot to feed the poor mermaid, he must be starving and aching to go hunt some fish or something like that. Dean supposed he had to do something quick before Merboy attempted to eat him right now, perhaps which was the reason why he had been sniffing Dean ever since he got here. The real question was how long the kid had been at that shore, why was he there unconscious and so close to the coast? Had it been too long? Did someone else dump him in there?

Another loud chirp interrupts Dean’s thoughts and he looks down from where he had been staring at the ceiling towards the boy who now wore a serious face. Dean purses his lips for a moment and then pats his stomach, his other hand pointing at Merboy. “You hungry?” he asks, when he gets no response and a blank look Dean repeats the same movements, though he adds a hand gesture to eating with his hands. “Huuuungry. Are you?”

Merboy tilts his head to the side and continues to listen to Dean saying the same thing over and over again with the same hand gestures for a while now, his expression shows he’s trying to understand and calculate something but he’s taking too long now and Dean is starting to give up. Dean lets his arms fall to his sides and grips at the towel still in his hand to keep himself from losing his patience; he repeats the same words again, hoping to get something out of the mermaid for once or he was going to go and look for food anyways. Finally after all the waiting he sees the kid’s lips move slowly, quiet words slipping from his mouth. “Krabbe.”

Dean raises his eyebrows immediately, opening his mouth in disbelief when he heard the soft boy voice speak back to him. “What?” he asks startled, didn’t really understood what he was told at all. Though when he finally reacts to this he smiles brightly and makes Merboy stare at him with a small frown, hands gripping tighter at the edges of the pool. “You can talk!” Dean says eagerly, quickly starting to walk closer to the mermaid in the water. “You can actually say things!”

Sadly though, Merboy seems very alarmed by the sudden closeness of the human in front of him and quickly dives underwater when Dean is already close enough to touch him. Like last time, when Dean peeks over the water another splash wets him even more and gives him a warning to step back immediately. Dean groans and takes a deep breath with his eyes closed, walking away from the pool slowly with his arms raised from his sides. “Fine.” he growls.

 

\---------- 

 

Dean didn’t know what mermaids eat but he damn right expected them to eat fish. They were creatures from the sea, were they not? Obviously they didn’t eat any hamburgers with a side of fries, he really hoped Merboy enjoyed fish because it was the only thing he was going to get him, and also crabs.

Turns out, Dean did a small research for the word ‘Krabbe’ and little did he know, it was German for ‘Crab’. He thinks, no wonder the mermaid didn’t understand a single thing of what he said; he had been German all this time? It was clearly nothing that he could understand. He lived at the coasts of Miami, how come he found a German mermaid in an empty shore?

But it’s a lot more confusing when he thinks about the fact that the whole time he had been repeating the same question to him the mermaid indeed understood the part where he was hungry and responded in another language that he wanted crabs. Now that was something. It was difficult to puzzle together; Dean would guess Merboy could talk both languages but then why barely understand one and speak the other? Where did he come from really?

Dean would try to learn some German words and repeat them to the mermaid to see if he has any success communicating with him, or he should just try to teach him English instead. Both were good options, they were if you skipped the part where Merboy didn’t trust him at all and teaching languages wasn’t going to be easy when the person you have next to you is not even human. Hopefully the kid would at least try to stay with his head out of the water or Dean was going to empty the pool in purpose if he made this hard for Dean to deal with. Dean really needed to start something here, still haven’t thought about what in the world he was going to do with a mermaid.

After all that thinking maybe that wasn’t one big problem. Right now all he had to worry was about how he left Merboy back home all by himself just so Dean could get him some food. He had supposed that because he spent the whole night silent and content in his pool then he wouldn’t attempt to get out of the water now that Dean was out. Actually, that would make a lot more sense if he finds out when he comes back that the mermaid was no longer there. Last night he probably had been sleeping, quiet because Dean was there to watch him and stop him if he made a move, now he could easily do whatever he wanted.

Thankfully Dean had made the task of going all through the house and close every door or window, anything that could be open for the mermaid to escape. He also locked them all with keys, Dean trusted that boy was smart enough to open doors or even pick them and if he was aware of his surroundings he would make a lot of noise to alert Dean’s annoying neighbors. Something that Dean was incredibly worried about.

He just had to get the food fast before he want back home. Dean had wanted to go fishing and catch Merboy something but then that would take too long and he had to be sure him and the mermaid where on the same level of trust before he went out for too long. However, Dean still had a life to keep going with and eventually he had to leave the kid alone for more than just a few hours so he could deal with other things. He really had to keep looking for more excuses if he wanted to survive with the mermaid for more than just two days, Dean wondered if he could live with the creature longer than his expectations.

It’s not going to take too long anyways, in a place like this it’s easy to find sea food without having to catch it himself. Dean is going to guess for now that Merboy likes fresh food, so what he will get him will be alive. Except for the fish, Dean preferred to get them dead instead of having to go through the trouble of buying domestic fish just to throw them in a pool where their lives were going to be taken away. As for the crab, you could get them alive anywhere, no big deal, really. The problem was that those fuckers sure could get handy when they’re angry and being exposed around with nowhere to go was really enough to piss them off even if they were half dead.

 

Though, being a lucky one today he managed to get them in those red plastic boxes instead of having to carry them around back home. He doesn’t like the idea of having to get fresh sea food everyday just to feed Merboy but Dean could also try to feed him the kind of food he enjoys every day to see if there is any difference. Dean hopes it would hurt the mermaid in anyway, at some point Dean wasn’t going to be able to feed him of the same every day and night. Then again, he could just let the kid live and free him back to the sea. It was just… there was _something_ about him.

Dean would have to let go at some point but a few days couldn’t hurt, right? Neither did some new company, no matter how Merboy was being pretty pissy. Dean could manage.

He didn’t also think about how he had to change the water of the pool every once in a while, that thing was in the middle of the damn living room, Dean had to wish himself some good luck with that. Pushing his stressing thoughts away for a while Dean focuses more on getting back home. The crabs are a disgusting living mess in the box that’s in the backseat as well as the wooden box filled with ice and fishes that reek in the small space of his car. He wonders if mermaids can smell that underwater, and if not if they had ever experienced the horrible smell of fish when they were like this.

There are about ten crabs in that box, big enough to fill him with just three but he had no idea how much a mermaid eats a day so he just took a random number and got that exact amount to take home. As for the fish, he forgot the exact number the box carried but he was sure there was about twenty or less, enough for at least tomorrow if he had to get more food. It was rather expensive but he could live, no big deal.

Back home Dean gets out of the car, and opens the back door of the Impala hurriedly to get everything inside and see if so far things were okay. He took the hard plastic box first since it only contained the few crabs he bought and it was much less heavier than the fish one was going to be. Dean had trouble getting the keys inside the lock of his front door, to a point that it almost desperate him that he still couldn’t get to see if Merboy was doing okay or not.

When he did finally that he forced the door open with his shoulders and poked his head in he saw how the mermaid was there in the pool looking exactly at the door, then he looked up to meet Dean’s eyes. He did hide immediately underwater once again when he saw it was Dean who opened the door, it made the human sigh and rolls his eyes, sighing in relief that everything was in place. He wasn’t sure of what he had been expecting to see when he got back home, it was indeed very relieving to see the mermaid was okay though, and the rest of his belongings too. Not that Merboy was a belonging, of course.

Dean settled the box on the floor on the carped that was in front of the couch, a few steps away from the pool. He eyes the water again for a second and then goes back to the car to get the other box out finally. The box is incredibly heavy and it takes him a long time to get it out from the back seat into his arms and to even close the back door of the car, which he did with his foot. His back still hurts and it pains him to be carrying such a heavy weight into his house. Dean’s knees tremble too, hands stinging with the effort of keeping the box from falling and making a bigger mess that everything he had already done.

By the time Dean is back inside and dropping the box in front of him so he could close the front door behind him, the first thing he hears is a loud splashing noise that definitely comes from the pool. Dean turns his head around sharply when he catches the noise and his green eyes widen at the sight of Merboy apparently trying to get out of the pool in a hurry. He seems impulse by something and Dean is not too sure but he has to stop the kid before he does anything crazy and his biggest fear is that the mermaid was going to find a way to hurt him somehow as always.

Before Ariel can try anything Dean sprints towards him to keep him from getting out any further from the pool, the little ass already has his upper body out of the water and he is bent over the edge of the pool, small hands flat on the outside of the walls containing the water. “Hey, hey! Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Dean starts shouting at him quickly, hands gripping at Merboy’s shoulders to hold him back from slipping out any further. The mermaid just keeps struggling to get out, suddenly not even minding that Dean was touching him, being was too busy trying to get out of Dean’s grip to get to the floor. Dean manages to push him back fully into the pool; his efforts seem worthless though as soon as he sees that this kid was not letting it go and was back to the edge of the pool.

The mermaid is trying to slip out again but Dean only bents down a little so Merboy ends up struggling above his shoulders, arms at either side of Dean’s head reaching out for nothing, hands gripping at the air. “No!” Dean hears the boy shout at him desperately, voice breathless and ragged. Dean furrows his eyebrows in both surprise and worry, finding out that the mermaid must know then was ‘No’ means but then also because he is not sure of what Merboy’s trying to say.

“No!” The boy voice shouts again more anxiously, this time actually trying to slip right past Dean’s head and crawling on top of him. Dean lets out a huff of breath while a groan also escapes his lips, surprised that the kid could even handle trying to raise the weight of his tail right over him. Merboy has his hands on Dean’s shoulders, his collarbones pressed against the man’s forehead as he continued to apply more force on his movements.

Dean is really trying here, making an attempt on making any sense out of this. He was fairly more disturbed by the fact that he opens his eyes to see the same pair of small breasts from yesterday, it makes the position get even more awkward, and him blush madly. He really needs to consider getting him a bra or the top of a swim suit, to survive a day more with a mermaid he really needed to get those first and take and deep breath. “Okay, no! You listen to me- Hey!” Dean raises his voice over Merboy’s as he slips his hands below the kid’s armpits, pulling him away and back into the water. The mermaid lets out some sort of strangled noise that could have been a whine, eyes looking up at Dean defiantly. “Calm down.” Dean tells him firmly, when Merboy moves again shouting “No!” this time.

The kid scowls and dips into the water, half of his head poking out so he was still looking up at Dean from over the surface, making bubbles again with this really irritated look. Dean sighs and drops his arms to his sides, looking down at his shirt only to see it was wet, _again._ “What is it?” Dean asks exasperated, glancing up at the mermaid again to see his face sadden. “Do you want to go out?” he asks, hearing nothing from the creature. “I brought you food.”

Finally he gets to hear some sort of snort coming from Merboy, he’s looking up at Dean and glaring, raising his head to smell at the air. Dean’s eyebrows shot up when he thinks he may be understanding what this was all about, honestly it was kind of funny and he wasn’t as mad anymore, however his heart was still beating rapidly. He looks back at the box of crabs on the carpet, pursing his lips. ”Uh, what was it?... Krabbe?”  When he looks back Merboy’s eyes are wide and attentive, biting his lower lip.

Dean immediately feels bad for the reason that he wasn’t aware until now of how really hungry the poor kid was. He really must have been that desperate to jump on Dean the moment he brought in all the food, just the smell going under his nose sparking the hunger in him. Dean looks at the crab inside the box while his face wrinkled in disgust, seeing them move in a limp manner and dump against each other. They smelled terrible but it appeared that the smell was palatable for Merboy, so he just held his nose for the time and reached out a hand to take a crab from the back to avoid the claws that are actually hanging loosely from its sides. It’s still alive which was barely noticeable but at least was still as fresh as it could be right now and hopefully Merboy wasn’t going to complain about that.

Dean turned around and inched closer to the pool, seeing the kiddo poke his head over the edge. Dean looks up and bites his bottom lip in concentration, now just about two feet away from the mermaid who is watching him closely and still in the pool. With a small grin Dean is handing over the crab he had in his hands, shaking it slightly to see if somehow it seems more tempting for Merboy who is slowly getting closer with his guard on.

Before he has anything else to say Dean sees the small hand come out of the water suddenly, snatching away the crab from his hands rather quickly. Merboy takes it with both hands now, diving underwater with it and Dean is just in time to peek over and watch the kid rip off one of the crab’s leg and continuing to do the same until he finds the skin inside and swallows it down. “Jesus.” Dean says with wide eyes and snort, shaking his head and stepping back to get the rest of the crab since it seemed it was the most desirable excluding the fish.

He pushes the box towards the pool before he’s going to the kitchen to get the trashcan from there, settling it beside the pool as well. Dean taps the edge a few times and wait for the mermaid to notice he’s asking for his presence again, and when the boy peeks out with searching eyes Dean steps back and points at the trashcan. “See that? Throw all the waste there.” he tells Merboy firmly, expecting him to understand. Ariel blinks at him and then looks over to the edge as he inches closer, looking over the side of the pool to see the trashcan there. “Krabbe, waste- there.” Dean keeps pointing down at the trash inside the can, his other hand on his hip.

Merboy does that thing again where he blinks his eyes one more time and then lets out a huff of breath, making Dean sigh deeply and look around for a better way to demonstrate him what he means. He’s going to regret this but he reaches out for another living crab from the box and with a small frown rips its leg off, feeling it tremble inside his hand and Dean immediately feels sick and a little bad. He turns to the mermaid then, making sure he was watching carefully and then proceeds to break the same leg in half, taking out the tiny pieces of meat and handing them out. The kid stares at him and then looks down at his hand, his slender fingers reaching out to take the pieces of meat which he pushes into his mouth and chews quickly. Dean then points at the empty crust shell and throw it inside the trashcan, now pointing at Merboy. “Get it? All the Krabbe crap goes in there. Not inside the pool.”

The mermaid parts his lips and looks down at the half legless crab in his hands, going underwater for a minute and then is back with more empty legs that he actually throws into the trashcan before he’s looking up at Dean expectantly. Dean nods and smiles, chuckling slightly in amusement now that he was aware that the kid was probably a lot smarter than he thinks, no doubt. “Well, that ain’t that bad, right? You can- Oh, okay.” Dean pauses with a screwed face as he watched Merboy rip of the shell of the crab, poking at its insides. “I think I’m gonna leave you to that now.”

That kid doesn’t look like he’s going to look up at Dean and pay any more attention, he’s clearly desperate and hungry so he just continues to eat all these disgusting stuff from the crab and lies back against the side of the pool contently. Dean thinks it’s rather adorable and funny too, besides from the creepy hissing and black eyes thing. He sits back on the couch to watch the boy drop the waste into the trashcan carefully and then bent over the edge to reach out for another crab which he cracks open the same instant he took it, the sound sending a shiver down Dean’s spine.


	3. Listen to me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time it wasn't an option, Dean had to find a way to make Merboy learn certain words or whatever, it was a little late to think about other possibilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gosh, my chapters keep getting shorter but this time I have my reasons. I will promise a longer chapter next time if it is possible, having a hard time multi tasking as you can see. But here it is, enjoy!

Something strange was going on and for the past two days Dean hasn’t been able to comprehend and solve it when he couldn’t communicate with the main problem in the first place. It was obviously Merboy, of course. Two days ever since the kid had last spoken to him and had said the word ‘No’ two times, but after that he stuck to only making noises that Dean was sure only his kin would understand. He had absolutely no idea what all of these noises meant, couldn’t copy them himself no matter how hard he tried. Speaking human words was becoming useless however making movements with his hands seemed to make the boy understand, if only he would pay attention.

The mermaid was yet as scared and doubtful of Dean; it was easy to read it in his round hazel eyes, every time he watched the human walk past him through the living room he would be staring with half of his face underwater, watching every movement. It wasn’t as unnerving as Dean thought it would be, though it was indeed frustrating that he was achieving no process in expressing himself to the mermaid, or for once have the kid express his thoughts or feelings in a way that Dean would _understand_. If he has spoken words previous times then he should at least know how humans work, right?

Dean hoped so, he really did despite how it would never seem like he was one step closer to understanding anything of what Merboy would tell him with all these weird noises. He couldn’t comprehend; they were all too complex and reached a tone that didn’t match his voice at all. The tongue clicking was easier to make but Dean knew he had to learn what each of these noises meant in order to direct them to the kid because it had already happened once that he clicked his tongue towards Sam and it got literally in all the sense of the word the wrong reaction to what he expected to get.

This time it wasn’t an option, Dean _had_ to find a way to make Merboy learn certain words or whatever, it was a little late to think about other possibilities. First because there was a life he needed to keep on with, most of the time he wasn’t going to be home but he had to be certain by the time he was back the mermaid was still in his pool. Sure, Dean didn’t expect him to not try to do something about it and attempt an escape, however he expected the kid to be smart enough to also not try that either considering how it would result to something much worse.

Bobby called him a day ago, he was angry and disappointed, Dean hasn’t been to work for a week now and honestly he was really surprised that he hasn’t been fired yet. He supposed it must be because there were not many boat mechanics as good as him, Dean liked these kind of things though the reason why he had been out of work these days was because it wasn’t easy to cope with life sometimes and, well, he had a mermaid to watch now.

He had to get to work tomorrow or Bobby would throw another tantrum, but a bigger one. This time it was possible that there wouldn’t be any salvation for him if he didn’t take back him actual place. Bobby was a great man, had been a good friend of Dean’s father for a long time now. He always had known that Dean wasn’t one of seeing his future as something big but it was John who talked him into giving his son a job, Dean should be appreciating this gift more than he hardly did. Couldn’t exactly say he and John were on the same level face of comprehending each other. It wasn’t like that anymore; it had been a long time ever since he talked to him.

Back to the part where Dean needed to teach Merboy proper English, it was mostly to have him understand that probably half of the time he was going to be out somewhere else and he needed to make sure that the mermaid agreed with this wherever he planned to stay or not. Another question Dean had was why he hadn’t eaten the damn fish. They weren’t as cheap as they sounded, and the kid didn’t touch any of them, not a single one.

The only thing that truly helped Dean was the fact that Merboy wasn’t _always_ eating, a day ago there had been a long period of time in which he spent it completely still at the side of the pool underwater with his fins flaring and closing repetitively. He had his eyes closed by then, perhaps he had been sleeping but Dean couldn’t really tell when he saw the mermaid’s tail twitch sometimes, this going on for about 12 hours.

Turns out Merboy was silent company, he hardly bothered Dean at all and was never causing any trouble as long as Dean was home. He would lean over the edge of the pool and rest his head over his forearms, watch Dean with half lidded eyes most of the time but if Dean was too close he would hide beneath the water for five minutes and then poke his head out again. Very rarely a small chirp would echo in the room along with another sort of noise that resembled a dolphin call, in Dean’s opinion. It would come out quiet and almost sleepy, every time Dean would look over to him the kid would be already asleep with his arms hanging next to the sides of the pool, a soft rumbling noise like a purr coming from his throat.

It was strange. As well as it was fascinating too, to watch this strange creature and see what he did when he thought Dean wasn’t looking. Often, Dean would catch him humming some sort of soft tune that seemed short and unpaired, but the vocals trembling from his throat are nice and soft, like he was trying to remember a song. It was strange to hear him, sometimes Dean got so concentrated in the gentle humming that he would start forgetting his surrounding, just stood there completely spaced out until his brain bugged him to wake up. Merboy would constantly rub at his scales harshly, let out water from his gills in a thin sudden spray almost out of fun; once he caught the mermaid watching the turned on TV very but _very_ closely, eyes wide and lips parted.

Dean wanted to know more, learn what things this kid liked and what not. It wasn’t easy information to earn, Merboy wasn’t a talker and with the little time they had spent together it appeared that the mermaid learned Dean couldn’t make any of the noises he did or understand them so he soon stopped trying to emit any of those. He was awfully quiet now, shy and reserved, would often stare at Dean with a lot of intensity but when the human turned around he was already underwater.

Merboy wasn’t underwater this time when Dean walked into the living room, instead bent over the edge of the pool like that time when he was trying to get out of it. Only that this time he was doing nothing, just laid there limply with his fingertips trying to touch the floor, a boring look gracing his features. Dean felt bad for a moment there but he didn’t know how he was supposed to do about it, not when the kid was afraid of being too near to him.

The mermaid looks up sharply at Dean when the man enters the room, they stare at each other motionlessly until it is Dean’s first decision to move and walk past him towards the kitchen, Merboy watching him in the same position the whole time. Dean hears some water splashing behind him when he goes into the kitchen, looking for another box of living crabs that he had gotten yesterday and surprisingly enough they were still alive. The kid didn’t eat anything yesterday and he obviously didn’t eat anything today so it was absolutely Dean’s duty to feed him periodically. The box is right there on the floor beside the counter, about seven crabs inside twitching and changing places. There is one that in the most active, claws raised high in defense at the sight of Dean and paying a lot of attention to all of his moves.

Dean frowns at it and pushes the limp crabs away, making sure to avoid the angry crab’s claws to grab him from the back of his shell and returns towards the pool. The crab is trying to bite Dean’s fingers off, many of his attempts failed when it can’t turns its arms around, a good reason why Dean should give it to Merboy better now than later. The mermaid is with his shoulders above the water, eyes attentive under the nearly dried chestnut bangs covering his forehead. Dean gets closer to the pool, not too much to alert the kid but enough to drop the crab inside the pool to let it fall to the bottom.

Merboy furrows his eyebrows, letting out a soft snort as he curls his tail close to him away from the crab that seems much alerted to see a bigger sea creature in the small space he is in. However, the mermaid doesn’t seem to have much interest in it, he curls away and stares at it nonchalantly like he’s not sure what to do about it. Maybe he wasn’t hungry after all, or he didn’t want to eat crab anymore. Dean sighs and steps back with a scratch of his head, watching how Merboy looks up at him with unimpressed eyes. “Do you know what it means when I come over here and give you one of those fuckers?” he says impatiently, but the mermaid just blinks at him. “It means you’re supposed to eat. Go on, eat the crab—krabbe. It’s food.”

Again, it doesn’t look like the kiddo understood him at all, at least it didn’t seem like he did for about a minute. Eventually Merboy looks down at the water and dips his head in ad he reaches for the aggressive crab that is still giving him hell for even being here, annoyingly slapping the crab with his tail sort of to knock him out before grabbing the back of his shell and looking right up at Dean. He seems to be challenging Dean, telling him with his eyes that he’s not stupid and he can do whatever he wants but this one time he’s going to listen. It’s funny to Dean, how he can read his eyes and tell the kid is not very pleased with him.

Dean watched Merboy lie back on the side of the pool and raise the hand holding the crab close to his face, watching the crab with amusement before he also raised his other hand to slap one of his claws playfully. Whatever he was doing was obviously for fun, the crab was being brusque and angry, trying to bite off the mermaid’s fingers but the kid was too fast and smart to let that happen. It didn’t seem like Merboy had any plans on eating it now so Dean just chose to let it be and ignore it for now, turning around and walking away.

He goes back to the kitchen again to make himself some black coffee and clean his hands to stop them smelling like dirty sea food, from the corner of his eyes still watching the kid torturing the crab. “You don’t play with your food, you know?” he calls over, earning a glance from Merboy who lowers the animal in his hand and looks back down at the water. Dean snorts and shakes his head, turning to the coffee pot that was already filled with hot coffee waiting for him. He filled himself a mug of black coffee and then sat near the counter to keep watching the kid mess with the crab some more.

The biggest question circling Dean’s head right know was how Merboy felt about all of this, he seemed alright so far but what Dean meant was if maybe mermaids got sick if they were out of the sea for too long. So far the poor boy was just bored with his surroundings despite always being very attentive and curious, by now he was just used to everything as it seemed. No big deal about anything, just watched everything happen quietly as always.

When he looks back to the mermaid he sees he’s finally eating it, lazily tearing off its legs and throwing the remains at the trash can that remained next to the pool. Dean sips his coffee slowly and watches closely for a while longer as Merboy finally ate his food like he was supposed to, suddenly raising his tail to let it hang from the edge of the pool. Dean stared in amazement, had forgotten its appearance since the mermaid was always hiding the rest of his body.

It’s strange though, he doesn’t remember his tail to be that long, and the dark red fin at the end of the tail seems more firm now and less soft, almost touching the floor by just the slightest. Merboy’s scales also seem shinier today, golden with the various tints or red here and there cross the sides. Dean couldn’t tell but there was clearly something different, something that distinguished the kid from how he was when Dean found him. His human parts didn’t seem any different, but the rest of him that was clearly fish had something new that he couldn’t tell apart.

He keeps watching the mermaid eating until the boy is done eating all the disgusting insides of the crab, pulling his tail back inside the pool and moving to the side to throw the empty crust shells in the trash can. Dean is a little space out as he stares, completely unaware for a second that Merboy has his hand literally inside the trash and he’s digging around in curiosity. For a minute more Dean caught his eyes fixed on the kid’s childish face, and then they suddenly shifted down to his hands. “Wha- Hey!” Dean shouts loudly, getting up abruptly from his chair only to have it fall behind him, black coffee spilling all over the counter. “Dammit. he swears in frustration but Merboy doesn’t seem alerted, not even giving the slimmest flinch. Instead he seems playful; he looks up at Dean and does something that the human can clearly see is a grin, pulling upwards at a corner of his lips.

Dean groans and carefully with the chair on the floor behind him he makes it quick towards the mermaid to get his hands off the trash can, when he was about three feet away from the pool the kid suddenly pulls away and back to the other side of the pool, an empty glass bottle of beer in his right hand. “Give me that!” Dean demands firmly, hand stretched and palm open towards the mermaid seizing him up carefully. It doesn’t get the reaction he wanted, of course Merboy us going to disobey him. He has to watch as the mermaid with curiosity smells the inside of the bottle and then immediately pulls away with a loud huff, face screwing up while he shakes his nose. Right when Dean thinks he’s going to finally hand out the bottle, that’s exactly when he sees the mermaid pull it closer to his face, tongue sticking out to lick tentatively at the opening of the bottle.

 “Jesus- Don’t!” Dean is begging with disgust, quickly going around the pool just in time to be able to pull the bottle out of the kid’s hands. Merboy hisses at him and swims away to the other side in defense, glaring at Dean with something else that seemed to be triumph. Dean doesn’t resist, he glares right back at the creature twisting his tails about underwater, jaw twitching. “This is trash, you just don’t pick it up and lick it, come on!” he tells the mermaid with a shake of his head, throwing his hands up when a tail raises up from the water to splash him to the toes yet again. “You’ve got some attitude, kid.” Dean growls.

For the first time ever since he found this mermaid at the shore Dean believes that he heard a small bubbly chuckle from the other, realizing it is in fact Merboy since he is the only one smiling in accomplishment and making happy bubbles with half of his face in the water. It’s definitely something he was not expecting but at least the sound soothed his anger and calmed his nerves rather quickly, earning a sigh out of him. Clearly the mermaid possessed some kind of humor, if he liked to tease and annoy people for fun then Dean won’t be able to change that fact, right? Was it his nature in the first place?

It did, in fact, make Dean grin and look away towards the bottle that he had in his hands, reading ‘Samuel Adams’ out of it with another shake of his head. “Don’t even remember this being in there.” Dean mumbles to himself and continues to throw it back into the trash can, pulling it away from the pool towards the wall. It would be better if Merboy only had access to it when he was eating, he would probably keep trying to do other things anyways. He looks back at the mermaid, the kid looking up at him just so. “That’s trash, for your krabbe stuff. It means ‘No’, alright? Don’t touch it.”

But Merboy looks sad all of the sudden, and bored too, wary, Its Dean’s fault, he brought him here when he is supposed to be swimming out there, not stuck here. Dean sighs and looks around the living room, scratching at the back of his head. “Now what? Do you want to hang out or somethin’?” he asks, the mermaid still not looking at him. “Hey,” Dean calls with a click of his fingers, Merboy looking up at him sharply. He points at the floor out of the pool, tilting his head. “Out?”

The mermaid stares but in mere seconds he lets out that loud annoying chirp that makes Dean groan and cover one of his ears, however it doesn’t seem as annoying to him now that he sees the kid is smiling contently and swimming closer to Dean. Dean raises his eyebrows in surprise, eyes shifting from the floor and back to the kid’s face. “What? Are you serious? You’re getting closer to be now just to get out of the pool?” he asks in disbelief, dismissing the question when he doesn’t get an answer but just the same wide and excited eyes. At least the mermaid understood that, so far.

Dean is not sure how he is going to try to get him out of the pool towards the floor, his tail seemed heavier than before and that was clearly not a good thing for Dean if he had to constantly take him out of the pool. Merboy is smarter though, he reaches out for _him_ and places his small hands over Dean’s shoulders, hanging from them because of the weight of the rest of his body. Dean feels weird doing this at first, he has to pull the kid up with him and actually hug him, careful with the fin flat against his back so that his arms are surrounding the human’s shoulders, breasts pressed against Dean’s chest. This is an awkward position for him to handle but the mermaid clearly doesn’t notice and doesn’t care, he’s just waiting for Dean to pull him out of the pool, completely innocent thoughts.

Dean takes a deep breath and ignores all of his inappropriate thoughts, starting to step back so Merboy’s tail is sliding over the edge of the pool and out. Surprisingly for him the mermaid doesn’t feel as heavy as he thought he would by in his arms, not like the last time he had to carry him into his house anyways. He keeps stepping back, Merboy’s tail coming out of the water and curling to his body and completely falling out against the floor with a loud thud. Dean can see the slimy tail sliding over the floor like a snake, as if testing the texture once again before he makes pressure on the floor to support his own upper body.

For a moment Dean thinks the kid is going to fall from his arms and painfully on his back, though it is exactly the opposite when he bends over a little and feels the mermaid pull away from him, all that happens is him falling on his butt over his curled tail. That was a smart move, Dean was scared he would end up hurting him badly and make things worse for himself, so far and thankfully the kiddo wasn’t a total idiot. It was a bonus; Merboy had a level of intelligence that he could compare to a ten year old, it shouldn’t be a good thing but he was capable of doing things by himself.

Dean steps back in a respectable distance, afraid the mermaid may attempt to knock him out again off his feet. The kid seems clueless at first, looking around himself as he unfolds his tail and supports his upper body with his hands flat on the ground. Eventually, he looks behind himself and flares his fins slightly, using his hands to slide himself easily across the floor while Dean stands there helplessly and watched in curiosity, wondering what the kid is going to do. The doors remain closed and well locked; it doesn’t alert Dean at all as he seems Merboy make his way towards the sliding door and presses his back on the glass separating him from the outside. The light coming from outside is surrounding the mermaid’s form, it must be warm and hot in this time of the month, it was nearly summer already.

He frowns in though, watching as the mermaid stays there and closes his eyes peacefully, as if he was enjoying the ray of light drying his scales. Dean furrows his eyebrows and steps closer to sit in front of him on the floor, doesn’t see the other blink or open his eyes, just lay there with a small satisfied smile pulling at his lips.

Did mermaids need sunburns once in a while? There was no other explanation to this, really. He’s sitting here watching Merboy closely and all he can tell is that he’s pretty happy with feeling the sun under his skin ever since the last time in a very long time. The boy’s head is tilted to the side over his own shoulder, tail resting motionlessly and scales reflecting under the sunlight like tiny diamonds. Dean is staring and he can’t help it, he had never seen something like this, never had a mermaid right in front of him.

Dean grows impatient though, he’s supposed to be trying to communicate with Merboy, not sit here and watch Ariel shine under the freaking sun. He reaches out and pokes at the tail lying in front of him, watching it curls back and when he looks up the mermaid is watching him with lazy eyes, his hands resting on his flat belly. “We need to start talking, you know?’ Dean tells the kid, his response being a sniff from the mermaid who doesn’t seem very interested in talking right now.  “I need you to understand the things I tell you.”

Merboy’s features are changed with concentration suddenly, fins flaring but not in alarm or fear, they just do it and that’s it. Dean snorts and looks up at the kid’s face in confusion, the other staring right back. “When I leave,” he points at himself and shakes his head, making a motion around the house. “You stay in the pool.” Dean finished by pointing at the mermaid and then towards the pool still shifting with the movement of the water. The mermaid’s eyes shift towards Dean and the pool repetitively, from his pink lips a soft sigh escaping them as if he was resigning to something.

That was a very good sign, perhaps by talking and making gestures with his hands it would be a lot easier to make the kid understand him. This time though, Dean point at Merboy, the kid looking down at his finger in curiosity and leaning down to smell him briefly. “What’s your name?” Dean asks carefully, all this time wanting to figure this out. When he gets no response as always he then points at himself, placing his palm over his chest. “I’m Dean.” he tells the mermaid, repeating the same hand gesture. “Dean.”

The mermaid seems confused but his lips are moving slowly although there is no noise coming out from his mouth. Before Dean has any idea of what is going on there is a slender hand reaching out for his face, fingertips touching Dean’s lips gently and pressing against them. “De…” Dean heard the mermaid mumble, trailing off just when he was about to finish the name before his eyebrows furrow in concentration.

Dean stares with wide eyes and takes a deep inhale of air, feeling his heart beating hard and quick inside his chest, stuttering with his own name. “Dean.” he repeats for the kid, feeling his fingertips slide against his mouth as he speaks. It is strange, this is making Dean feel embarrassed and probably even shy if he doesn’t mistake the feeling. He understands the mermaid may be doing this to be able to copy his name but it doesn’t change that fact that it makes it difficult for Dean to concentrate and take this seriously.

Merboy looks down at Dean’s lips and watches them move carefully, fingers ghosting ever so slightly over them, and well it makes Dean blush. “De.” The mermaid says finally, looking up at Dean.

Dean looks surprised but he’s frowning after shaking his head, "No, no- It's Dean, Deeeeean." and then Sam stares at him with big curious eyes, begins to open his mouth to say something and when Dean thinks he's finally got it Sam repeats happily, "De!" and Dean groans, the embarrassing chick flick moment totally gone.

He doesn’t like nicknames, he really doesn’t and ‘De’ was never going to be one that’s fitting. Even with that the mermaid is smiling happily, fingers still insistently pressed against his lips like he wants to learn more words. It doesn’t change how Dean still doesn’t know the mermaid’s name and he isn’t even going to try and get it out of him by now. “Fine, you know what?” he looks up to the mermaid, which to his amusement literally asks, “What?” right back at Dean and it makes him nearly chuckle and shake his head. “Back to the pool now.”

Just the word ‘pool’ itself made Merboy groan and pull his hand away back to himself, even attempting to lazily go away but Dean already had him by the arms, pulling him into another hug to stand up on his feet and carry the mermaid back to the pool like he was a child. He could hear mumbling next to his ear but it was nothing he could distinguish, just like the rumbling coming from Merboy’s throat. This time all Dean has to do is lean over the edge of the pool and let the kid’s upper body fall in the water with a big splash spilling out to the floor so he later curls his tails inside. The mermaid doesn’t seem very happy but he’s not complaining or doing any weird noises, just lays back and stretched his tail above the edge again.

Dean goes back to the kitchen to clean the mess there, the coffee spilled on the counter hasn’t yet spilled out to the floor so it’s easy to clean this and put the chair on the floor back in place. He didn’t plan on doing anything for the rest of the day, he didn’t have _anything_ to do for the rest of the day. It was just him at the mermaid now, still getting to know each other and actually understand what the other wants. It shouldn’t take them much time, the kid was smart and he may only pay attention when he wants to but it was still something, right? It was enough to save the world, Dean’s in this case.

He should give Merboy another name, and actual human one that people constantly use so he doesn’t forget. Dean goes back to the living room with a couple of beers with himself, eyeing the pool and seeing the mermaid underwater hiding or whatever it was that he did. Even with the TV on he is still thinking about names, thoughts a mess in his head as he thinks.

He's drinking a beer and stares at it, squints at the name 'Samuel Adams' for a while now that he realizes it was the same one Merboy found in the trash, and then looks over to the mermaid that's watching TV with a lot of wonder, chin resting on his forearms. "Hey, Sam!" and the kid looks at him for a moment, tilts his head. "Saaam." Dean repeats for him, and then points at him while the mermaid just stares at him. "Sam. You are Sam, that's your name now." and maybe Dean is a little drunk right now and he's being stupid, but it fits and no matter how much the creature is glaring at him right now he’s going to leave it there if he’s going to be called ‘De’.

 

* * *

 

And a fanart from my friend AlphaMishka1508 <3 Thanks, honey!


	4. Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s nothing too big,” he speaks, jaw twitching in response just by thinking that finding a mermaid thrown away in a shore was damn near big comparing it to anything he had ever experienced.

“I thought I wasn’t going to be able to see you in another life either.”

Dean looks up when he hears Bobby’s firm voice, nothing close to amusement even with the joke inserted there. He doesn’t think he wants to see the look of disapproval on Bobby’s face right now, feel ashamed when things so far were a little heated up after he had made his plans to keep on going. John wasn’t happy that all this time Dean hasn’t been to work, in fact, he was nearly the most pissed he could get. Bobby had called him to complain about the situation and out of that Dean received a call from his father that went on and on about his responsibilities, completely forgetting Dean was twenty-three now.

He doesn’t want to keep looking straight at Bobby’s face, he doesn’t actually. Instead Dean starts checking around his surroundings as if he had never seen them before, eyes flickering from all the boats and tables holding tools in order to avoid Bobby glaring at him. Dean snorts, “It was only a matter of time until I returned wanting to or not.” he replies with his lips a thin line, words almost mumbled for his stubbornness in keeping his face completely straight.

“You need the job, son.” Bobby tells him and when Dean looks back this time his boss’ face is clearing up a tad more to his pacific side. Dean looks away again, standing still a respectful distance from Bobby, earning him a sigh that sounds unhappy. “What in the world had you been doing?”

“I try not to, okay?” Dean says bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest. “And shit s’been happening so is not like I lay around because I want to be lazy.”

Bobby frowns, “What is happening? If this has anything to do with Chuck I-“

“It’s not him,” Dean cuts him short and glances at him with a raised eyebrow, briefly wondering if his old roommate had told his boss something else about his behavior, but he was going to dismiss it for now. “He went to his own place, he’s not even around anymore.”

“Then what is it? Because I really hope in ain’t one of those moments you have. There is work to do.” Dean watches as his boss turns around and walks away from him, disappearing behind a wall with an open door but Dean was still able to hear him babbling about. “You’re good material, kid. Having you sitting around not raising a finger is not going to take any effect.”

Dean bites the inside of his cheeks and sits on a counter nearby, staring down at the floor as he speaks and listens to Bobby reply back to him. “It’s nothing too big,” he speaks, jaw twitching in response just by thinking that finding a mermaid thrown away in a shore was damn near big comparing it to anything he had ever experienced. “Just need some time to breathe.”

He sits there for a few, listens to some clacking going on in the room Bobby is in before he sees him finally reappear again, a determined look on his face. “Look,” he begins, making Dean almost recoil to prepare himself for another painful lecture. “I know John is making this hard on you but at least make the effort.”

“I am.” Dean argues with a small scowl, head snapping towards Bobby. “And I’ve been doing it for years now, you know how he is.”

“Right.” Bobby says after, sighing deeply so then he’s opening his mouth to keep speaking when Dean thought this was an ultimatum. “Just get back to work and I’ll try to calm his ass down, and for the love of God make it worth for me.”

Dean sulks and nods again, standing on his feet to turn around and check his surroundings once more, hiding his face from Bobby. “I will,  just… give me a break.”

“Alright, just don’t be too slow. I’ve got clients today.” Dean hears Bobby mutter behind before the sound of his voice is followed by the door of that room closing behind him, leaving Dean with the rest of the boats that all seem to be damaged enough to be one tough bitch to fix.

 

* * *

  

“There you are!”

Dean snaps his head around just in time to see someone enter from the open garage, the shadows of the room a little too dark to see the face of the person that just talked to him and the fact that it was already darkening outside was making him have to squint his eyes. It didn’t help much, the only source of light he had was the one hovering over the engine of the boat that was in front of him. He could hear footsteps coming closer to him, the form of whoever it was making a small silhouette that Dean could tell easily it was a male.

He opens his mouth to ask who it is but he doesn’t have time to when he hears a flick and then the lights of the garage turn on immediately. Dean hisses slightly and covers his eyes with a greasy hand as he waits for his eyes to adjust, barely blinking before there is a face grinning just in front of him. “It’s been forever now.”

Dean stares at the man, his own smile pulling at his lips as soon as a squint of his eyes wasn’t necessary anymore. The guy claps him on the shoulder and shakes his gently, very much trying to avoid Dean’s dirty hands and shirt. “Gabe, man.” Dean chuckles lightly in amusement, not returning the gesture but smiling up at his friend. “Where you’ve been?”

“Where have _you_ been?” Gabriel asks over his question, picking up a chair from the counter to place it beside Dean and sit there with a foot over his left knee. “I thought I had to call someone to get you out of your baby crib.”

Dean snorts, returning his attention to the engine of the boat if he wanted to avoid Bobby poking his head around to check on him and complain about visits. “I wasn’t out for _that_ long.”

“Really?” Gabriel asks, when Dean looks up at him he can see his friend doesn’t seem very impressed with his raised eyebrow. “For two weeks you just suddenly disappeared, not only that, you stopped going to work and Chuck says you’ve been acting weird ever since he left.”

Dean groans and closes his eyes for a second, swearing to himself he was going to go over to Chuck himself and bring this up. Well, maybe he was saying the truth. Dean couldn’t see himself because he was too busy checking out a mermaid but he was sure in other people’s eyes he was acting somehow different. He sighs, “He’s making a big deal out of it.” Dean waves him off, reaching out for a napkin on the small tool table next to him to wipe off his hands.

Gabriel tilts his head to the side. “Then what? Did something frisky happen?”

“Wh- no.” Dean snaps defensively, placing the napkin again on the table. “Just, you know, unusual shit at the beach. Not like I discovered a mermaid or anything.” he says ironically, using this for his own amusement and nearly smiling at the thought of it. Dean really didn’t plan on telling anybody about his mermaid for now, he didn’t want Sam getting into trouble because of someone who found him and didn’t want to take him back to where he came from. He was still trying to figure out how Sam got there, however their level of communication wasn’t enough.

His moment for thinking didn’t last for too long, soon enough Gabriel was interrupting his thoughts with a loud laugh. “You totally did!” he enthusiastically, Dean’s heart dropping to his stomach while his face changes to complete grief. “So a mermaid rocked your boat.”

“What?” Dean finally forces out, shaking his head briefly. “I-“

“Oh come on,” Gabriel grins and places the foot on his knee flat on the ground, scooting closer to Dean. ”You’re being good with the ladies, right? Gave them a little somethin’, or did you fall on a chick’s heels?”

There is a small period of silence after Gabriel’s words in which Dean just stares and analyzes. He nearly swore that his friend knew about Sam, he had considered himself busted before he planned on responding to anything Gabriel was asking him. Just by thinking about someone finding out made a chill run down his spine. The thought for some reason scared him. Dean didn’t want anyone else’s hands on Sam, what if someone dared to hurt him?

His silence got the wrong interpretation, after Gabriel’s last question Dean had sat there with his mouth slightly gaping open, staring blindly at him without uttering a single word. “Seriously?” Gabriel’s voice makes him snap out of his thoughts, eyes blinking and going wide. “Someone made your tiny black heart beat again?”

Dean laughs humorlessly, his face instantly changing into a frown when he stops. “Certainly not.”

Gabriel lets a smirk spread on his face, slapping Dean on the shoulder playfully as he lies back on the chair again. “Oh Dean-o has some maiden somewhere giving him the chills.”

“No, I don’t, Gabriel.” Dean grunts defensively, looking down at the engine that has been untouched for a while now. “And you need to leave, I’ve got work to do.”

“C’mon, tell me her name.” Gabriel is teasing now and it’s starting to get into Dean’s nerves bit by bit. He doesn’t want to clear up anything out now, it will only make Gabriel ask him more questions but knowing him he was going to be spreading the word that Dean has a crush on some girl that doesn’t even exist. Dean’s not sure which option he prefers, all he knew was that the fact that he wasn’t acting against it now was going to earn him a lot of rumors from now on. “Don’t tell me, Anna?”

Dean groans, “Ugh no, I don’t like your sister. How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Woah there, calm down your anger, Hulk.”  Gabriel grins, crossing his arms over his chest. “Jess-“

“Don’t.” Dean interrupts him quickly, raising a hand to stop him from speaking any further or coming out with any names that are clearly all of Dean’s friends, or the first ones he’s coming up with. He doesn’t really want to talk about this now so he just completely—and actually turns his full attention to the engine, a frown now permanent on his face.

Gabriel doesn’t seem like he’s close to giving up, he has that look on his face again, the one that says something mischievous about him. Dean is starting to fear that look now, it makes him uncomfortable and most of all slightly annoyed. “So is not anyone you know?” he asks, continuing on when Dean tells him absolutely nothing. “Is she near your age?” Gabriel keeps trying, yet earning nothing as a response. “Oh, you like milfs?”

“Jesus Christ, Gabe.” Dean finally says, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath with a shake of his head. “Can’t you do this later?”

“Who knows if when I leave you’ll end up crawling back into your bat cave. This is my moment to interview you and get to know if you’re into a feisty old lady or not.”

Dean scowls. “I’m not into… a ‘feisty old lady’, okay? I’m not into anyone and if you don’t shut up I swear-“

“Kiddo?” Gabriel’s voice interrupts him, the questions keeping on and on. Dean wants him to stop for once and give him some space, but he’s nowhere near to accomplishing this and he may even give up and let Gabriel continue thinking he had Dean caught in his grasp. Still, that question makes him silent and thoughtful again. He liked to think that Sam was a kid but he only looked like a teenager, what if he was way older than that? Dean knew nothing of mermaid age.

He looks back at his friend who is paying a lot of attention to his face, apparently picking up his expressions and discovering something. “Aha,” Gabriel is chuckling, tilting his head. “I didn’t know you were one for school girls, Dean.”

Dean groans and wants to punch himself for making this worse on him. “If I tell you anything, will you shut up?”

“Ah I see where this is going.” Gabriel grins, after a few seconds eventually nodding his head. “What’s the deal?”

“I tell you everyth—part of what’s going on and you will tell no one.” Dean says firmly, looking at Gabriel in the eye like he was talking about a serious murder that needed to be kept secret. His friend doesn’t seem very bothered by this but slightly suspicious of what was really going on. “Deal?”

Gabriel is silent as he thinks about this, then rolls his eyes and nods. “Fine, you got me.” he tells Dean, making a hand gesture to tell Dean to proceed. “Shoot it out.”

Dean nods as he opens his mouth, pausing momentarily to think about what he should even tell Gabriel. He wanted to just tell him anything, nothing that involved mentioning an actual sea creature, perhaps something that won’t be too much of a big deal. Hopefully whatever he said wasn’t going to bring any other suspicions. “Okay, uh, I met someone… at the beach.” he begins, Gabriel slowly starting to smirk again. “We constantly see each other.” Dean is starting to regret what he’s saying but at least he’s not implying anything, if Gabriel thought he was talking about being in love with girl then that was him. “And it may be the reason why I’m acting… weird lately.”

When he stops Gabriel is already looking way too excited for his own good, Dean knows how it is. This was going to be the biggest mistake he has ever made in relation to his privacy, he knew that soon enough someone was going to try to go in further and figure out what was really going on. “You totally have a crush!”

“No!” Dean is shouting, desperate and annoyed. “I don’t, we’re just friends.” Actually, he wondered what he and Sam really were; friends didn’t seem like the right word to describe what was going on between each other, maybe just acquaintances. That worked better.

Gabriel raises an eyebrow, tilting his head. “Please, Dean. You know what it always means when people say they’re just ‘friends’.” he emphasizes the last word, making Dean glare at him some more. “What makes you act all weird? Is this person actually a mermaid with a tail to whip you with?”

Dean stares but then he wants to laugh, he even grins. Gabriel has absolutely no idea what he’s saying and Dean is the only one with that knew this is in fact true. But his friend knew nothing about this; he was just making jokes that were terribly ironic to Dean. “Yeah.” Dean admits, throwing his hands up as he leans back on his chair. “You got me.”

Really, he’s having fun with this. Gabriel doesn’t seem a step close to believing that, he’s just pouting and blaming Dean with his eyes making him feel like this is his complete fault. “Eventually I’m going to find out, you know?”

“Right.” Dean shrugs and looks back at the boat in front of him. “You go do that.”

“But-“

“Hey!” A loud grumpy voice keeps Gabriel from talking. Dean can’t see because he’s hunching over the engine but he knows that voice it’s obviously from Bobby, he doesn’t need to turn around to recognize it, even blind he could tell. “I thought you would have understood that ‘get your ass out of here’ means exactly that, boy. Don’t come back unless you want to learn that another way!”

Gabriel stands up abruptly from his seat, chuckling humorlessly and raising both hands in surrender. “Hey there, old man. I was just leaving.” he says contently, looking down at Dean who is really trying to avoid him right now. “Right, Dean?”

Dean smiles in response, approaching that Bobby can’t see his face. “Get the hell out of here, man.”

 

* * *

 

Dean is tired by the time he’s ready to go back home, anxious to see if Sam actually understood his instructions and followed them obediently instead of trying to wander around the house. He wasn’t very fond of the idea, however he wasn’t going to blame the kid if he tried to, he probably had lived underwater all his life. At least Dean hoped Sam would know what’s dangerous and what not, avoid getting himself into trouble and receive Dean with a disaster.

Bobby paid him what he had worked weeks ago to settle down for a while. Dean wasn’t too sure what he should do with it but sooner or later he was going to spend it on something that was going to help him out, the probabilities were that he was going to use it on Sam. Dean hardly bought anything for himself; he may as well give it good use this time. He doubted the mermaid was going to thank him for it at all but it was going to be Dean’s own satisfaction, to know he was giving Sam something better.

It was the least he could do, Dean was still trying to figure out what he was going to do with him. No matter how he kept telling himself there was nothing to do other than just feed him and keep him in a pool, Dean still hoped that it was going to change somehow. Whatever it was, something told him that if it involved having to keep Sam away from him it was going to be difficult to deal with, so far Dean has grown quite attached and used to having the kid poking around in his house.

He doesn’t want to be thinking about this now, he was being a little jealous over _his_ mermaid, Dean found him and it was his. Dean didn’t want to think of it was if he was falling in love with Sam, it clearly wasn’t like that. He just found a mermaid and was being protective over him, how many people had ever found one? Probably not many, it was Dean’s prize.

Now, Dean didn’t want to make it seem like Sam was something he had the right to own, he was a person too with other characteristics and culture. And well, a different language. But that wasn’t the point, Dean just wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t here to treat Sam like a pet; he just wanted to… keep him around for some time.

His head is pounding again and Dean wishes he could get home faster by telepathy. Taking a shower would be good too, and change his clothes. He briefly wondered if Sam was going to shy away from him because of his smell, lately Dean had noticed that Sam has something for perceiving scents. The mermaid already fed so he was likely to be alright, all Dean had to do now was get home, shower and go to bed immediately.

Maybe Sam would be sleeping by then, curled up at the bottom of the pool. Dean had to get a new one soon too, his buddy was showing signs that he was feeling uncomfortable and sometimes Dean would catch him trying to stretch and being unsuccessful. Ever since Dean carried him out and inside of the pool Sam doesn’t seem to be too twitchy anymore about having Dean close to him. In fact, he would constantly try to get Dean’s attention by doing things that didn’t make much sense to him.

Like how he would make some sort of squeal repetitively towards Dean, like he was trying to express something. He would always look content as he did so, it made Dean suppose he would be telling Dean he’s happy or something. Or he would also whistle this really catchy song but would stop abruptly when Dean looks back at him. Only once Dean tried to copy his whistling and Sam was quiet, but soon enough he was whistling along with him quietly seeming impressed.

Dean wanted to know his corporal language so bad he often stared and studied the mermaid, tried to teach him words but so far all Sam had gotten to understand and learn were the words ‘pool’ and ‘coffee’, the last one due to the fact that Dean had made him try some and it resulted in Sam wrinkling his nose and remembering the word as something awful.

His phone was vibrating in his pocket, the ringtone sounding distantly in the car. Dean has some trouble at first in reaching out for it as he drives but eventually he is able to take it out and flip it open, stare at the name on the little bright scream flashing in front of him. With a deep breath he bites the insides of his cheeks and accepts the call before he pulls it close to his ear, wondering why he didn’t decline it in the first place. “Hey Dad.”

“Dean,” he hears the gruff voice say through the phone, his tone didn’t match his greeting; it was too firm and deep. Like he was trying to get to something. “I’m going to assume you already went to work.”

“Yeah,” Dean responds with a sigh, guessing he sounded tired enough to tell John he didn’t have to ask questions about wherever he was actually dealing with his “responsibilities” or not. “Is this why you called?”

He hears John take a deep inhale from the other line. “I need to make sure you’re doing what you’re supposed to, stop sitting around.”

Dean rolls his eyes and shakes his head, mood changing the slightest when he realizes he’s already just a few feet away from his house and seeing Sam will be a very good excuse to tell his father that he’s busy and needs to cut the conversation. Maybe it won’t solve much, though it will help Dean to feel better and take a rest before he probably ends up with another lecture tomorrow. “I’m twenty-three, Dad. I know what to do with my life.” Dean defends himself, getting a little irritated by all this, he wasn’t stupid. John didn’t have to be ordering him around anymore, not when he was old enough to make his own decisions.

John is silent, as if he was thinking about something. It nearly makes Dean want to hang up before he speaks. “Then you need to prove that yourself, you’ve been making poor decisions.”

Dean pulls his car in front of his house, not bothering to open the garage and get it in there. He wants to scream for a while and just get to his bed, ignore how John is giving him shit that he doesn’t need.  “And I can deal with them by myself, thank you very much.”

“Dean,” John is saying again, using that tone of voice that reminds Dean of a teacher. “I’m serious about this-“

Dean gets out of the car and slams the door behind him loudly, running a hand down his face. “I am too, okay?” he tells his father, pulling the keys out of his pocket in his way to the front door, fumbling with the door knob as he tries to get it open. “Really, I can deal with this, I don’t need you to keep telling me what to do or remind me what I’ve been doing.” He finally opens the door and closes it behind him, not having to ask if John is judging him because he can just feel it.

He’s not paying attention to anything John is telling him now, he stops in the middle of the living room and stares with panic at the puddle of water next  to the pool that extends all over the floor. That can only mean something which he clarifies to himself once he gets closer and sees that there is no mermaid in the pool, Sam is not there like he was supposed to. Dean should had expected this, there is no water trail so there is nothing he can follow to know where he had gotten to. It only means that if there was a trail and it dried then it had been some time now since Sam had been out.

Dean nearly forgets he had the phone attached to his ear, he can still hear John’s voice talking to him distantly but he’s focusing too much on finding Sam to really understand him at all. Dean is hurrying to the kitchen, see if maybe the mermaid had been hungry and he went out to get some food from the fish but there was nothing there either, absolutely no clue.

The bathroom is empty too, the door was locked so Dean is not sure why he’s even checking there. All the rooms are locked and the rest of the house is empty, completely desolated. Where the hell has Sam gotten to? He couldn’t have gone that far, not when the whole house remained locked.

“I’m just worrying over you.” Dean finally registers what John is telling him, meanwhile he’s checking out all the rooms now to see for some reason Sam is in any of them and hopefully he’s alright. “I don’t want you to mess up your life, Dean.”

“Yeah, I…” Dean trails off distractedly, noticing that when he pushed the key on the knob of his bedroom door and twisted it got locked, signaling the door was already opened. With a frown he pushes the door open again and peeks inside carefully, his eyes immediately landing on the tail that is poking out of under the sheets lying on the floor. “I understand, sorry.” he continues on, stepping closer and seeing that the sheets are moving slightly at the sound of his voice.

Again, John tells his something and he doesn’t listen. He’s carefully trying to go around the bed to see if Sam is awake while wondering how the hell he got here by himself. How did he open that door? The sheets are covering the rest of the body too so Dean can’t see if the mermaid even has his eyes open, all he can tell is that he’s shifting on the bed and twisting his tail.

“I will call later.” John tells him, voice a little softer than before, Dean can tell even if he’s paying attention to something else. He’s still trying to move the sheets away from himself, suddenly a smaller hand reaching out and pushing Dean’s away.

“Yeah, sure.” Dean nearly chuckles out, hanging up before John says anything else and placing the phone over the nightstand. “Hey,” he starts saying, not talking to the form that is obviously hiding way from him. “What you’re doing over here?”

The sheets move away but this time it is Sam showing half of his face and blinking up at Dean tiredly, the hand that was on the bed now gripping at the rest of the sheets covering his body to pull them down below his collar bones. Dean snorts when he sees his hair is a complete mess, sticking to all sides and almost covering half of his eyes. Whatever Sam did to get over here was clearly forgotten, he would worry later when he’s not so tired and lazy, not wanting to get the mermaid out of his bed either.

“How do you keep doing these kind of things?” Dean asks warily, standing up only to make Sam pull all the sheets over his head again. “Calm down, I ain’t gonna do anything to you.” he tells him as he stretches his sore muscles, guessing he would have to go to the couch this time if he has Sam on his bed. He wonders briefly if being out of the water for too long will hurt him but Dean is supposing Sam knows this and will be smart enough to go back to the pool if he was anywhere near to dying.

Sam pokes his head out in curiosity again when he sees Dean is walking away from the bed, his voice echoing quietly in the room. “De?”

Dean turns around and raises an eyebrow at Sam, tilting his head to the side and stopping at the doorway. “Hmm?”

Sam stares, doesn’t say anything but he may understand that Dean sleeps on that bed and he’s there so Dean is going away. Is easy to tell when his eyes are shifting from the bed towards Dean, fingers curling around the bed sheets which he pulls off his and hands to Dean silently.

Dean furrows his eyebrows and steps closer then, tentatively reaching out for the sheets and pulling them to himself when Sam seems determined that he’s indeed giving them to Dean. “Hey, thanks.” he chuckles, the situation amusing while he had thought Sam was going to offer him a space on the bed or something sweet like that, instead he just gave him the sheets and took over the bed.

That’s it. Sam curls his tail around himself and rests his head on the pillow, placing his hands under his cheek to watch Dean leave the room. Dean supposed he didn’t close his eyes until he left towards the living room, had poked his head a few times and every time Sam was staring up at him telling him with his eyes to leave. It wasn’t too much of a bad idea, to sleep on the couch. It made him wonder with curiosity if at some point Sam was going to claim something else as his, who knew if he wasn’t going to let Dean on his bed again.

Oh well.

 


End file.
